The invention relates to design of a game which may be conducted over a communication network, e.g., the World Wide Web (WWW) or the xe2x80x9cweb.xe2x80x9d
As is well known, the World Wide Web (WWW) or the xe2x80x9cwebxe2x80x9d is a graphical subnetwork of the Internet. Through the WWW, users at computer terminals may utilize a browser, e.g., the INTERNET EXPLORER or NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR browser, installed therein to access different websites, which are identified by their uniform resource locators (URLs).
Companies often establish websites and use them as xe2x80x9cvirtual store frontsxe2x80x9d to advertise, and furnish information about, the products and/or services provided by the companies. To attract users to visit the websites to learn about their products and/or services, thereby hopefully resulting in additional sales, the companies may incorporate such attractions as elaborate graphics, sweepstakes, etc. in the websites.
One such attraction in the form of a game has been designed to lure users to specified websites of various companies participating in the game. This prior art game involves hiding pieces of a puzzle in the specified websites. A user playing the game needs to visit each specified website to locate the piece hidden therein. After locating all the pieces, the user is able to solve the puzzle and thereby wins a prize.
We have recognized that the advertising scheme based on, for example, the prior art game described above is ineffective in that, in the course of playing the game, the visit paid by a user to each specified website is often brief as the user typically collects the hidden piece in a xe2x80x9chit and runxe2x80x9d manner.
Although like the prior art game, the inventive game also requires a user to locate and procure an object, e.g., a specified icon, hidden in one or more places in a website, the object in the inventive game in accordance with the invention possesses a state which is time-variant, and an indicator is used to indicate the object""s time-variant state. For example, the color of the object may function as such an indicator. In that case, the color of the object changes in response to the varying state thereof. Specifically, the object in green corresponding to a green state indicates that the object is xe2x80x9cripexe2x80x9d for procurement by a user. After a first period elapses, the green object changes to red corresponding to a red state, indicating that it is xe2x80x9cunripexe2x80x9d for procurement and the user has just missed the green object. After a second period elapses, the red object changes to yellow corresponding to a yellow state, indicating that the object is xe2x80x9cunripexe2x80x9d but will become green and xe2x80x9cripexe2x80x9d for procurement soon. This sequence of a green state, followed by red and yellow states repeats itself.
Thus, with the object having the above time-variant state in accordance with the invention, when a user playing the inventive game finds out that the object in a website is not ripe, depending on the current state of the object, the user may wait at the website to procure the ripe object later. The color of the object other than green provides the user with a clue as to when the object will become ripe because of the aforementioned repetitive state sequence. As a result, the user is more likely to wait if the current object state is yellow than red. A user who chooses to wait at the website for the object to become ripe most likely reads, during the wait, the information about the products and/or services advertised thereon, thereby effectively realizing the advertising purpose of the game.